Royal Alexandra Theatre
The Royal Alexandra Theatre, commonly known as the Royal Alex, is a theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located near King and Simcoe Street. Built in 1907, the 1,244-seat Royal Alex is the oldest continuously operating legitimate theatre in North America. History The Royal Alex is a 1,244-seat, beaux-arts style, proscenium-stage theatre, with two balcony levels, built in the style typical of 19th century British theatres. Construction began in 1905 and was completed in 1907. Since 1963 it has been owned by Ed Mirvish Enterprises, a company established by Toronto department store owner Edwin Mirvish. Since 1986, the theatre has been managed and operated by Mirvish Productions, the theatre production company headed by Ed's son, David Mirvish. The theatre, commonly known as the "Royal Alex", "the Alex" or "the R.A.T." is named for Queen Alexandra, a Danish princess and the wife of King Ed ward VII, great-great-grandmother to the King of Canada, Charles III. The theatre received l ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anchor of the Golden Horseshoe, an urban agglomeration of 9,765,188 people (as of 2021) surrounding the western end of Lake Ontario, while the Greater Toronto Area proper had a 2021 population of 6,712,341. Toronto is an international centre of business, finance, arts, sports and culture, and is recognized as one of the most multicultural and cosmopolitan cities in the world. Indigenous peoples have travelled through and inhabited the Toronto area, located on a broad sloping plateau interspersed with rivers, deep ravines, and urban forest, for more than 10,000 years. After the broadly disputed Toronto Purchase, when the Mississauga surrendered the area to the British Crown, the British established the town of York in 1793 and later designat ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cawthra House
Cawthra House is the name for two homes owned by the Cawthra family. William Cawthra House The first was a mansion completed in 1853 for businessman William Cawthra by Joseph Sheard and William Irving. It is a now site of the Scotia Plaza office tower in Toronto. The Toronto building was one of several properties of the influential Cawthra family in Toronto, became a branch of Molsons Bank in 1885, then as Sterling Bank from 1908 and finally as home to Canada Life Assurance Company from 1926 until 1929. Attempts to preserve the house failed and by 1949 it was demolished to make way for the Bank of Nova Scotia Building, now part of Scotia Plaza. John Cawthra House The second building was built for John Cawthra (1789–1851) in 1830 as a home and retail store. It is still standing at 262 Main Street North in Newmarket, Ontario. See also * Canada Life Building The Canada Life Building is a historic office building in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The fifteen-floor Beaux Ar ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Spanish Flu
The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was March 1918 in Kansas, United States, with further cases recorded in France, Germany and the United Kingdom in April. Two years later, nearly a third of the global population, or an estimated 500 million people, had been infected in four successive waves. Estimates of deaths range from 17 million to 50 million, and possibly as high as 100 million, making it one of the deadliest pandemics in history. The pandemic broke out near the end of World War I, when wartime censors suppressed bad news in the belligerent countries to maintain morale, but newspapers freely reported the outbreak in neutral Spain, creating a false impression of Spain as the epicenter and leading to the "Spanish flu" misnomer. Limited historical epidemiological ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Great Toronto Fire Of 1904
The Great Fire of Toronto of 1904 destroyed a large section of Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada on April 19, 1904. It was the second such fire for the city in its history. Incident The fire was first spotted at 8:04 p.m., on April 19, 1904, by a Toronto Police constable on his regular street patrol. The flames were rising from the elevator shaft of the E & S Currie Limited's neck wear factory at 58 Wellington Street West, just west of Bay Street (now TD Bank Tower). The factory was situated in the centre of a large industrial and commercial area. The exact cause of the fire was never determined, but a faulty heating stove or an electrical problem is suspected. With 17 fire halls alerted, two engine companies and one hose company, the fire took nine hours to get under control. The glow of the fire could be seen for miles in all directions. Firefighters from cities as far away as Hamilton, Ontario, and Buffalo, New York, came to Toronto's aid. The temperature that nig ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Shubert Family
The Shubert family was responsible for the establishment of the Broadway district, in New York City, as the hub of the theater industry in the United States. They dominated the legitimate theater and vaudeville in the first half of the 20th century, promoting entertainment attuned to the popular taste. History The family's American history began with Duvvid Schubart (transliterated to "Shubert") and his wife Katrina (Gitel) Helwitz, who left their native town Vladislavov, Russian Empire (now Kudirkos Naumiestis, Lithuania) arriving in New York City from Hamburg, via England, on June 12, 1881 on the s/s ''Spain'' with their eight children. Two of them subsequently died. Later they settled in Syracuse, New York."Shubert Brothers" pbs.org, accessed August 29, 2009Kenrick, Joh [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mark Klaw
Marc Klaw, (born Marcus Alonzo Klaw, May 29, 1858 – June 14, 1936) was an American lawyer, theatrical producer, theater owner, and a leading figure of the Theatrical Syndicate. Life and work Referred to as both Mark and Marc, he was born in Paducah, Kentucky, the child of Jewish immigrants from Germany. He studied law at Louisville Law School, graduating in 1879. He established a law practice in Louisville, and worked as a part-time drama critic. In 1881 he moved to New York City to work on legal issues regarding the theater for theater executive Gustave Frohman. Klaw was drawn to the theater business, and for several years was a manager of tours. He formed a partnership with A. L. "Abe" Erlanger that started as a theatrical booking agency in New York City in 1888. Operating as "Klaw & Erlanger" they expanded their business through the acquisition and construction of theaters, to the point where they controlled most of the theaters in the U.S. South and several major loca ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Abe Erlanger
Abraham Lincoln Erlanger (May 4, 1859 – March 7, 1930) was an American theatrical producer, director, designer, theater owner, and a leading figure of the Theatrical Syndicate. Biography Erlanger was born to a Jewish familyJewish Telegraph Agency: "Funeral Services for A. L. Erlanger, Theatrical Magnate" March 10, 1930 in . Erlanger and his partner, lawyer [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Charles Frohman
Charles Frohman (July 15, 1856 – May 7, 1915) was an American theater manager and producer, who discovered and promoted many stars of the American stage. Notably, he produced ''Peter Pan'', both in London and the US, the latter production starring Maude Adams who would be strongly identified with the part. In 1896, Frohman co-founded the Theatrical Syndicate, a nationwide chain of theaters that dominated the American touring company business, until the Shubert brothers grew strong enough to end its virtual monopoly. He partnered with English producers, including Seymour Hicks, with whom he produced a string of London hits prior to 1910, such as '' Quality Street'', ''The Admirable Crichton'', ''The Catch of the Season'', ''The Beauty of Bath'', and ''A Waltz Dream''. Frohman produced over 700 shows. At the height of his fame, Frohman died in the 1915 sinking of the RMS ''Lusitania''. Life and career Charles Frohman was born to a Jewish family in Sandusky, Ohio, the youn ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Theatrical Syndicate
Starting in 1896, the Theatrical Syndicate was an organisation that in the United States that controlled the majority of bookings in the country's leading theatrical attractions. The six-man group was in charge of theatres and bookings. Beginnings Charles Frohman, Al Hayman, A. L. Erlanger, Marc Klaw, Samuel F. Nirdlinger, and Frederick Zimmerman met for lunch at the Holland House in New York City in the early months of 1896. All of them were theatrical managers or booking agents with national influence. Frohman and Hayman owned theatres in New York and the surrounding area, Erlanger and Klaw worked as booking agents for practically all of the big theatres in the South, and Nirdlinger and Zimmerman ran theatres in Ohio. Frohman also controlled a chain of movie theatres that stretched all the way to the West Coast. The men talked on the state of American theatre over lunch. The Theatrical Syndicate had effectively been created by these men. They believed that in order for the S ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Frederick Challener
Frederick Sproston Challener (1869–1959), also known as F.S. Challener, was a Canadian painter of murals as well as an easel painter of oils and watercolours and a draftsman in black-and-white and pastel. He also did illustrations for books and commercial art. He "easily ranks with the first few mural decorators in Canada", wrote Newton MacTavish, author of ''The Fine Arts in Canada'' (MacMillan, 1925) Biography Early years Challener was born in Whetstone, Middlesex, England. His father was the cabinetmaker, Edwin Challener. His family moved to Canada in 1870, but returned to England in 1876 where Frederick attended school, then came back to Canada permanently in 1883. He worked as an office boy for a business firm and drew individuals he saw from a window. Artist and photographer, John Arthur Fraser, of the Notman and Fraser firm, recognized his talent and paid for him to attend the Ontario School of Art at night (from 1884 to 1886). Afterwards, Challener studied at the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Carrère And Hastings
Carrère and Hastings, the firm of John Merven Carrère ( ; November 9, 1858 – March 1, 1911) and Thomas Hastings (architect), Thomas Hastings (March 11, 1860 – October 22, 1929), was one of the outstanding American Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts list of architecture firms, architecture firms. Located in New York City, the firm practiced from 1885 until 1929, although Carrère died in an automobile accident in 1911. Both men studied at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in France and worked at the firm of McKim, Mead and White before they established their firm. The partnership's first success was the Ponce de León Hotel in St. Augustine, Florida, designed for Henry Flagler. They went on to establish a successful practice during the 1880s and early 1890s, and rose to national prominence by winning the competition for the New York Public Library Main Branch, New York Public Library in 1897. The firm designed commercial buildings, elaborate residences, and pro ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |